Growth of the Dominican Republic cement sector

12 October 2010

The executive director of the Dominican Association of Cement Companies (Adocem), Julissa Baez, highlighted the stability of the cement industry in the Dominican Republic. She stated that of the six producers of cement in the country are members of the Adocem, two of which are important concrete companies. Last September revealed that Adocem members exported 1Mt of cement to the Caribbean.

Q: What is the status of the cement sector currently? A: Stability. Consumption volumes remain stable, we continue with very good production. We are exporting the surplus and to date, to September we have exported about 1Mt of cement to the Caribbean.

We have changed the composition of the market on a very good footing despite the crisis of 2009 and from April to May is when it starts to decrease slightly due to the election period in 2010, prompting the construction of infrastructure. There is an increased demand of 5% to 6% from January to September.

Q: Is this situation reflected every month? A: The growth of which I speak is accumulated. But if you compare month to month, ie August to September, has actually fallen. In the semester as well. The months of greatest growth were to April and from there, have been falling, but have remained at a stable level.

Q: What do you think this relationship is due to?A: Basically this is a natural cycle that occurs around the time of the year and the reduction in public investment. When you pass the electoral period, you return to investment levels and then it goes down a little.

Q: How do you think this year will close:A: We have projected at the beginning of the year that demand would grow in total between 4% and 5% and we believe that we are being given this information and is here to stay.

Q: What is the forecast for 2011, from the reconstruction of Haiti: A: We hope that the reconstruction of Haiti in early 2011 to increase demand for cement. As for growth for 2011, in a general sense, I’m not very optimistic. We hope to stay like this year 2010, stable.